Electrical plugs and receptacles for removably connecting conductor sets are ubiquitous. Various plug and receptacle designs have been proposed over the years primarily directed to promoting ease of manufacture by way of automated assembly, the preservation of the integrity of the plug/receptacle and separation of the electrical conductors over the useful life thereof. In particular, plural parallel electrical conductors must be maintained in insulated relationship such that shorts are avoided. Because plugs and receptacles are frequently exposed to mechanical stresses, they are frequently overmolded with a flexible elastomer such that they can be stepped on or dropped without breaking. In order to improve the integrity of the plug, that is the isolation of the contacts, and to provide a strong mechanical support for the contacts such that they can flex and press against a mating electrical contact, rigid premold assemblies have been utilized for holding the electrical contacts in a selected position. The premolds are then overcoated with an elastomer to provide additional insulation and also to provide the required protection from mechanical shocks and stresses.
To facilitate automated production, prior art premolds frequently utilized electrical conductors that extended beyond the rear surface of the premold to allow crimping of the conductors to a wire set (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,603,638 and 5,647,751). The crimps could be faced in the same direction facilitating the automated crimping of the electrical connectors to the wires. Such designs required overmolding in that the crimp area of the electrical conductors was exposed and needed the overmolding as insulation. Furthermore, in order to prevent shorts, exposed crimp areas had to be monitored through quality assurance measures to maintain separation of any stray wires that may inadvertently extend from one terminal to another.
It therefore remains an objective in the art to provide improved insulation and separation of conductor sets and attached wires in the manufacture of electrical plugs and receptacles and, in particular, those using premolds. It continues to remain an objective in the art to provide plugs and receptacles that are mechanically strong and that resist breakage from the stresses and strains that they may be subjected to in the environment. In this regard, it is especially desirable to have multipart premolds that do not become disassembled when subjected to mechanical forces. The present invention is intended to meet the foregoing objectives.